Wildcat: Into the Fray
by Bronze Cat
Summary: She never expected to see them again. But she did, and now they have all been thrown back into Narnia and into a war. The wildcat must enter the fray and protect her kings and queens once more in a world that not only does she not recognise but has forgotten who she is. Is her heart in it or will she fall?
1. And So It Begins

Someone barged into her. The impact knocked her backwards and, caught off guard, she hissed at them. Not a tiny, under-her-breath hiss. A full-blown snarl. Her hair rose, her teeth bared and her fingers twitched into claws. The offender heard it and turned back to look at her in shock. He was slightly older than her and dressed in a posh school uniform.

He eyed her warily, the peculiar girl in the coat too big for her, and then hurried further into the Tube station muttering about freaks under his breath.

Nancy Dempsey watched him go with the most venomous look she could muster and then inwardly cursed herself for quite literally letting the cat out of the bag. She paused and leant against the railings outside the station. The wildcat inside her was still spitting and yowling in anger at being pushed aside in such a rude manner. She could almost hear Lady Perchuhi shrieking at her, _We are Cats; people make way for __**us**__!_

But she was no longer a cat. She was no longer the Spy Master of the Kingdom of Narnia and she was no longer the sworn Knight of High King Peter. She had not been any of these things for a year now. She was a girl again; a human girl who ran on two legs and ate her meals with a knife and fork.

Now she had to quell the cat's rage and continue on her way into the station. She was usually fine, it was only being caught off guard that really threw her.

The idiot who had pushed her out the way had been desperate to reach a fight that was taking place on the platform. She paused on the outer edge of the crowd. They were all posh boarding school boys and girls, clearly on their way back to school, and they were cheering brutally at the fighters. She bounced on the balls of her feet and rolled her eyes at the spectacle on the platform.

The boys who were fighting needed a lesson from the lads who lived down her way. Even Nancy could have made mincemeat of them. She almost winced as one kneed the stomach of another; not for the pain it caused the victim but for the sloppy execution of the kneeing.

Again, she was shoved out the way as someone pushed through to try to help the struggling boy. The breath left her as she heard an agitated voice scream "_Edmund!"_ as he did so.

Yes, that was Edmund Pevensie, she was sure of it. And that meant that the blond boy coming off worse in the fight was...

It couldn't be her king. It couldn't be Peter.

It took all her strength not to leap forward into the fray and pull away the brute kicking her king so viciously. The cat screamed and spat and tried to make her move but the girl grimly kept her feet planted on the tiled floor. That was her king and she was his knight but she knew she could not help him. In Narnia, she would have in a heartbeat. But this was England. Here, she was not his knight.

A whistle blew angrily from up the platform and suddenly ATVs and soldiers were everywhere. The schoolkids scattered and she lost sight of them again. The platform calmed and she was left to collect her thoughts.

That had been her kings. There was no mistaking it. She had left them a year ago, fled in fact, and she thought she would never see them again. Narnia was a distant memory; her life was here in England. She had had an entire lifetime to enjoy herself as a cat in another world but she was needed, here and now, by her family. But yet, there they were. All four of them were sitting further down the platform, talking quietly together.

Did she dare walk over to them and say hello?

Something made her take the few short steps down the platform to them.

"Um, hey," she said. They broke off their conversation and turned to stare at her. For a moment she was scared she had made a mistake. They had forgotten about her and she should just turn and walk away like there had been a mistake. Then Lucy's face lit up in a smile as bright as the sun.

"Nancy! How splendid!" she cried and leapt up to hug her. She received a hug from Susan too, and a playful punch from Edmund, but Peter didn't move from the bench. His face was completely unreadable.

"My goodness, Nancy! How have you been! Your coat is beautiful!" Susan gushed.

Nancy shrugged the too-big coat back up her shoulders. "Thanks, but it's my sister's. She let me borrow it today for my job interview."

They all made admiring noises only to be interrupted by Peter.

"Why did you leave the Professor's?" he asked coldly. She fought the urge to cower on the platform as she had done many a time when she had done something stupid that displeased him.

"It's complicated."

"I'm sure it is."

She disliked his tone greatly. She wasn't his knight here, she had to remember that.

"I thought you didn't need me anymore. From your display just now, it would seem that I was wrong, sire," she said waspishly. A muscle tightened in his jaw.

"Why _did _ you hit him?" Susan asked, sitting down next to her brother again.

"He bumped me," he snapped.

"So you hit him?" Lucy said wearily. She looked at Nancy and raised her eyebrows as if to say _this has been happening a lot._

"No. When he bumped me, he tried to make me apologise. I'm not a child, I'm a King!" he complained.

"Um, we are children here?" Edmund pointed out.

"But we aren't - we weren't children _there!_" Peter said. He stood and walked a few paces down the platform from them before turning back, his handsome face troubled.

"Do you think we could go back?" he asked.

"It's been a year," Susan said. "I think England is our home now."

Pain suddenly shot through Nancy's spine and she fell to her hands and knees with a cry.

"Nancy! Are you- Ow!" Lucy shrieked and leapt from the bench. "Something pinched me!"

"Really, you two!" Susan remonstrated. "Everyone is staring- what is that?"

All of them were on their feet now. Nancy had shakily climbed back on her feet but was barely upright. She didn't feel right; her skin itched, her nails ached and the base of her spine hurt like something was about to burst out of it.

She barely heard Lucy's joyous cry that it was magic, she didn't hear Susan's command to hold hands, and she did not feel Lucy's hand clasp her own. All she could concentrate on was the pain. Her hair was growing, her bones were shortening, her teeth and nails were lengthening. She jumped onto Lucy's shoulders as she shrunk even further.

Light flooded the station and suddenly they were in the station no longer. Nancy leapt from Lucy's shoulders as the Four ran from the cave towards the bright blue sea. She landed neatly and stared down; at both the paws beneath her and the feline shadow she was casting upon the sand.

She couldn't believe it. A purr rumbled from her chest and she rolled in the sand in exaltation. The cat and the girl were finally one again.

* * *

><p><strong>I'm back! Here is Prince Caspian, hopefully with a few surprises to shake things up since we all know how the movie and book go. If you want to know more about why Nancy left the Professor's then have a read of my one-shot <em>The Troubles of Humanity<em> which gives a bit more background to why she left. Go check it out! Also leave me a review here! **


	2. In the Ruins

Happy and covered in sand, Nancy loped down the beach to where her friends were splashing each other in the surf. She nimbly avoided the water Edmund sent flying at her with an irate yowl and watched as he paused and stared at the cliffs behind her.

"Where do you think we are?" he asked.

"Where do you think?" Peter laughed. "Look at Nancy, she's a cat again!"

"Well, yes," his brother replied, "but I don't remember ruins in Narnia."

Peeking out from the cliffs behind them were a cluster of stone buildings and structures. After some investigation of the foot of the cliffs, they found a small staircase of roughly hewn steps. The climb was hard for the Pevensies but not so much for Nancy. It was almost like the past year had not happened and she scampered up the steps with ease. When the Pevensies reached the top, panting and sweating under the hot sun, they found her crouched on top of a broken column and purring loudly.

They laughed at her and hurried into the ruins; not quite understanding why she was purring. A Cat purred for comfort; either they were in comfort or they needed it. This time, Nancy needed comfort terribly. There was something very wrong with the ruins. They felt familiar in a way she could not quite put a paw on.

She jumped down and crept through the overgrown grass to where the Pevensies were gathered around Susan. There was the remains of a stone table in a slightly cleared part of the ruins and she jumped up onto it.

Lucy stopped and stared at her. "I don't believe it... it can't be..." she said. She pulled each of her siblings to the area in front of Nancy. "Imagine columns, and a glass roof, and where Nancy is sitting - a dais. She liked to sit there a lot..."

They looked around, realisation dawning.

"Cair Paravel," Peter said sadly.

"I thought I recognised it," Nancy said. "The air feels familiar."

They spent more time exploring the ruins. With a kind of nostalgic delight, they found an apple tree in what had been a courtyard and remembered planting it. Apples were picked and handed out and suddenly it was pointed out by Susan that they had nothing to give to Nancy. Their sandwiches had unfortunately been left on the train station platform and apples didn't exactly form a major part of the feline diet.

She assured them it wasn't a problem. These ruins were probably full of things she could hunt. Lucy and Susan looked unconvinced but the boys nodded and continued on their exploration of the ruins.

Nancy followed Edmund as he walked along what had once been a beautiful terrace. He stopped and placed his hands on a large boulder sitting on the remains of the slabs.

"What is it?" Nancy asked.

"It's from a catapult," he said with a frown. "I don't think Cair Paravel was left to Time alone. I think the citadel was attacked."

He looked at her. "How were our relations with the other nations when we left?"

"Nothing that would warrant an invasion," she said. He raised an eyebrow at her. "Honestly," she said , a tad crossly. "My spies assured me."

Peter was examining the wall by them. He placed his hands on a certain part and pushed. The entire wall slid back to reveal a wooden door. The Treasure Chamber, Nancy remembered. It had been her idea to have the sliding wall in front of the door. It would create a secret sanctuary in case the citadel was breached. She severely hoped they wouldn't find the remains of anyone who had fled there with that in mind.

With the crunch of rotten wood, Peter broke off the lock and the door swung open. Susan and Lucy joined them as Peter tore a strip from his school shirt and wrapped it around a stick.

"Don't suppose you have any matches?" he asked his brother as he secured the knot. Edmund smiled.

"No but I have this if it helps," he said and pulled an electric torch from his satchel. Peter grinned as his sisters and Nancy giggled.

"You might have mentioned that a bit sooner!" he laughed and threw the makeshift torch aside. Edmund descended into the darkness of the Treasure Chamber and the others followed.

When they reached the bottom of the steps, all four of the Pevensies rushed for their respective chests and eagerly opened them to see their belongings again. Nancy however stayed on the very last step. The air down here was thick and heavy and she could almost taste the emotions of the last people down here. Fear, fear permeated the room like a heavy perfume, and she could also sense desperation and a dying hope. She began to tremble. What happened to Cair Paravel?

"_When Aslan bears His teeth, Winter meets its Death,_" Peter said, breaking her out of her reverie. He had drawn his sword, Rhindon, and was staring at the inscription running the length of the blade.

"_And when He shakes His mane, we shall have Spring again,"_ Lucy said, finishing the verse. She looked like she was about to cry. "All our friends... the Beavers... Mr Tumnus... they are all gone..."

A coldness went through Nancy's heart at her words. Oreius, her Guv; her mentor, the leopard Lady Perchuhi; a funny little wolf named Conall she had been grooming as her second-in-command; all her spies and informants. Everyone she had known here was now gone. She shivered as the fear in the room closed around her again.

"We have to find someone. We need to know what happened here," Peter said.

"We should probably change into some Narnian clothes," Susan pointed out. "We'll get nowhere in our school things."

"But what are we going to do with our uniforms? We can't just leave them here, my pinafore is new!" Lucy said.

Nancy remembered her sister's coat with a start and yowled in outrage. They all looked at her. "My sister's ruddy coat!" she explained. "She only leant it to me for my interview and I've gone and bleedin' lost it, ain't I? Dot's gonna kill me if I don't get it back!"

Lucy giggled.

"Well, it's not a coat, but this is in my chest," Peter said. He held out her gift from Father Christmas. Her collar with its tiny shield. She stared at it.

"Put it back," she said. "We don't know what we are going out into. I might need to play dumb at a moment's notice and it would be better if I had nothing on me to identify me as a Narnian."

She turned and began to climb up the stairs, missing the looks Pevensies exchanged.

The ruins above were quiet and still. She crept through the long grass and slowly remembered every lesson Lady Perchuhi taught her. There was a rustle to her right and she pounced.

"_SKEEEEEEEEEEE!"_ the mouse in her claws screamed.

"Common tongue or you are a meal!" she snarled. There was an etiquette to hunting and it was considered dreadfully rude to attempt to eat another Talking Animal.

"_SKEEEEEEEEEE!" _the mouse repeated. With a regretful sigh, she quickly killed and ate it. It was necessary, she told herself. She needed to eat. When she was done, she sat back and gave herself a damn-good wash. A bath could never compare to the feeling of cleanliness one got from washing. Out of everything, it was the one thing she had missed the most in her last year.

Hunger momentarily sated, she knew what was next. She sat up straight and wrapped her tail over her feet. This was the most basic pose of Feline Meditation; a powerful method of retention known to Cats only. They had a reputation as a lazy species, a stereotype they were happy to perpetuate, but nothing could be further from the truth. Cats slept so much because Feline Meditation was enough to completely tire them out. A proficient meditator could remember the smallest detail; a passing scent on a breeze, a flash of colour in a window, a sound echoing in the distance.

Nancy had tried it a few times in London but it was almost as if her mind could not focus properly in a human body. Now, back in her feline body, the stance worked and her memories unfolded like words on a page. She fell into them gladly and began to investigate. She looked at the paths she walked, the faces she knew, everything until she was certain she knew everything she had known about Narnia once more.

She opened her eyes as she heard her Kings and Queens ascend from the Treasure Chamber in their Narnian clothes.

"Let's go," Peter said.

Nancy jumped and slung herself around Lucy's neck.

Time to find out just exactly what had happened to their beloved country.

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><p><strong>Review, pretty please? They really make my day! :)<strong>


	3. On the Beach

A quick inspection revealed that the peninsula on which Cair Paravel was situated was now an island. Peter, Edmund and Susan could all swim fine but Lucy could no longer swim as well as she used to be able to. They were just pondering how to get to the mainland when Nancy spied a boat coming along the river.

"Looks like two soldiers and a Red Dwarf," she told them. "We should probably flag them- _they are going to throw him in the river._"

Sure enough, the soldiers had picked up the Dwarf and were getting ready to sling him out into the water. In a flash, Susan had drawn her bow.

"Drop him," she called. Her tone was regal and commanding but Nancy thought her decree was a little poorly worded. Sure enough, the soldiers exchanged a glance and then obeyed her - dropping the Dwarf into the river.

Susan loosed the arrow. It arced through the air and hit one of the soldiers as he scrambled for a crossbow. The other took one look at them and then dived after his friend. Peter and Edmund ran for the water; Edmund for the boat and Peter for the stream of bubbles that was the Dwarf. Susan rushed to help her younger brother drag the boat up the beach while Lucy drew her dagger and set to work on the Dwarf's bonds when Peter set him down on the stones.

He was not best pleased with his rescue; something he made clear as soon as he was free.

"_Drop him!"_ he bellowed at Susan. "Was that the best you could do?"

Susan turned to face him and drew herself to her full height.

"A simple thank-you would suffice," she said stiffly. He shook a hand angrily in the direction the soldiers had disappeared in.

"They would have done a grand job of drowning me without your interference!" he snapped.

"Why were they trying to drown you?" Lucy asked politely.

"They are Telmarines," he said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Telmarines?" Edmund repeated and looked at Nancy for clarification.

"Twenty merchant lords and their followers headed by the Merchant King. Shifty lot; stunk of cloves," she reported. A shifty bunch indeed for she had always been fed little tidbits of information by her spies concerning the Telmarines. Telmar had been a rough and unforgiving landscape and the Telmarines would have died out if they had not opened their trade routes. Merchants, however, also made excellent spies so it often took some careful sidestepping on her part to ensure no important Narnian secrets were leaked.

"Why would they be here?" Edmund asked her now. It had always been this way; she may have answered to Peter as his knight but it was Edmund that had always handled diplomacy and it was to Edmund she had given the majority of her reports.

The Dwarf had been watching the two of them with narrowed eyes. "Why?! Where have you been for the past twelve hundred years?" he asked.

"Twelve hundred!" Lucy exclaimed. They all looked at each other in horror.

"Peter, what are we going to do?" Susan asked as she handed him back his sword. The Dwarf slumped slightly when he saw the blade and groaned loudly.

"Oh no," he said and then peered at each of the Four in turn. "Oh no. _You _are the Kings and Queens of Old?"

"You have the privilege of standing in the presence of Queen Lucy the Valiant, King Edmund the Just, Queen Susan the Gentle and High King Peter the Magnificent," Nancy announced. They all looked at her and if she was still capable of blushing then she would have.

"That was a tad unnecessary, Nance," Susan said.

"Lady Perchuhi would have been proud of me," she muttered.

The Dwarf was chuckling. Chuckling. At them. It was disrespectful. She was disliking the Dwarf more and more they were with him.

"Well, we are here now and we will help in any way we can," Peter told him.

"Aye, and how are you going to do that when you lot aren't much more than babes in arms?" he replied. Peter drew Rhindon in response and the Dwarf looked at him piteously. "Don't do that, boy," he warned.

"Actually, I think your sparring partner should be someone else," Peter replied graciously. He exchanged a look with Edmund and then offered Rhindon to the Dwarf as Edmund drew his own sword.

"Oh, that's cruel," Nancy exclaimed.

The Dwarf looked at her cockily, no doubt thinking she meant that this was cruel for Edmund. Not so. In their day, Edmund had been the greatest swordsman in the entirety of Narnia; surpassing even Peter and Oreius. He had countless battles and melees behind him and his skill world-renowned. Such was his reputation that competitors would rather have withdrawn from a melee than face the Just King upon the field.

As much as she did not like this Dwarf, she really didn't think he deserved to be bashed by Edmund; especially when panic flashed across his face as he grasped Rhindon and immediately dropped the sword point into the sand.

Edmund glanced at his siblings and Nancy, unsure as to whether to continue, and then the Dwarf struck. Rhindon was brought up and round and Edmund barely deflected it. The Dwarf moved with a speed that defied his small stature and for a moment, he seemed to have the upper hand. Then Edmund hit his stride. With a series of short, sharp moves, Rhindon was knock from the Dwarf's grasp and he was brought to his knees - the Just King standing over him with a fearsome glint in his eye.

"Beards and bedsticks," the Dwarf mumbled. "Forgive me, your majesties, I never thought that horn would actually work-"

"A horn? What horn?" Susan asked.

"The Telmarine Prince had it. Caspian, I think his name is. He took a tumble right outside my friend's home and he had a small ivory horn. I ran to head off the guards following him so I never saw him blow it, but I heard it loud n' clear," the Dwarf explained. "There was an old myth about that horn; my grandfather always swore it belonged to Queen Susan of the Golden Age and could be used to call her and her siblings to aid Narnia once again."

"Well, that explains how we got here," Susan said.

"I think we should find this Caspian and find out why he called us here," Peter said. "Brother Dwarf, could you take us to him?"

"Aye, I reckon I could," he answered.

"Splendid."

And with that, Peter strode over to the boat for an inspection. His siblings followed after a small pause, leaving Nancy with the Dwarf. They glared at each other suspiciously.

"So how did a scrawny kit like you end up with the Kings and Queens of Old?" he asked. Her tail fluffed up and started to swish.

"Actually I am a member of their household. I was there in the Golden Age," she informed him curtly. He raised one bushy eyebrow.

"And where is the rest of their household? Relaxing on the other side of the island?"

"No. There is just me."

He snorted. "Shame, we could really use an army right now. An army of Ancient Narnians sprinting through the forest screaming war-cries would scare the living daylights out of the Telmarines."

She laughed with him. "I imagine it would. My name is Nancy."

"Trumpkin," he replied.

Lucy wandered back towards them as her brothers and sister prepared to pull the boat back down towards the water. "It looks like there is a bit of food in the boat so we should be fine for today," she told them. "Where are we headed?"

"We should start with the Shuddering Woods. That is where I was captured," Trumpkin said and then went to join the others.

Lucy looked at Nancy curiously. "The Telmarines smell like cloves?" she asked. Nancy growled under her breath and leapt up to Lucy's shoulders.

"They blummin' stink of them. Every race smells different. Ever stood downwind of an Islander? It's like being pelted with fish!" she moaned and Lucy laughed.

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><p><strong>Apologies for the non-Nancy-centric chapter but it is needed to get to the ones where she shines. ;)<strong>

**Thank you for the reviews, follows and favourites, guys! More are, of course, always welcome! Let me know what you think!**

**The Merchant Lords of Telmar is my headcanon for the structure of Telmar. The Merchant Lords ran trade routes through all the countries in the Narnian world to allow their people to survive and then when they came to Narnia, they became the first of the Telmarine Lords. :)  
><strong>


	4. A Land No Longer Recognised

It would have been quite pleasant to row up the river, if only the trees still danced like they once did. Nancy sat upon Lucy's lap, her fingers stroking the wildcat's ears gently, as the younger queen stared unhappily up at the still trees. Edmund and Peter took turns at the oars and Susan stayed quiet, her eyes fixed on the river bank and her fingers playing with the feathers of her arrows.

Trumpkin had filled them in the best he could on the Telmarine dynasty and the underground Narnian rebellion. He also told them the little he knew about this Prince Caspian. They didn't have a lot to go on.

"I don't understand... how could Aslan let this happen?" Lucy asked.

"Aslan?" Trumpkin snorted. "I thought He was a myth. Aslan hasn't been since in these parts since your time."

"You shouldn't forsake Him so easily," Nancy said softly.

"Well, He seems to have forsaken us," the Dwarf replied bitterly.

"We're here to help now," Peter reminded him. No more words were spoken in the little boat, each member of the party staring morosely around at the scenery.

Eventually they reached a place where they could leave the river and begin their journey on foot. Nancy jumped from Lucy's lap to Edmund's shoulders as the youngest Pevensie climbed from the boat to let her siblings and Trumpkin pull it up the beach.

They were just discussing which way exactly was best to start in when they heard Lucy call out to someone further upstream.

"Hello there!"

The five by the boat looked round and saw her approaching a large and shaggy bear standing in the shallows. "It's alright, we're friends," she said as the bear growled at her.

Both Nancy and Trumpkin tensed.

"Don't move, your majesty!" the Dwarf warned, his hands reaching into the boat for his short bow.

"Lucy, do as he says," Nancy added, jumping from Edmund's shoulders. She could instantly tell that the bear was not a Talking one. There was a lack of the intelligent spark in the eyes and, as they stood downwind of it, she could smell it as clearly as she could smell her companions. It stank of aggression and brutality.

Lucy turned back to stare at them, her brow twisting in confusion, and the bear took that opportunity to plough straight for her.

Susan drew her bow and screamed for the bear to stop as her brothers and Nancy sprinted for the bear. Lucy tripped and fell as she tried to run from the bear and it reared up, ready to strike her.

An arrow flew through the air and pierced the bear's chest. It toppled sideways with a groan and they all turned, expecting Susan. Her arrow was still strung in her bow and they all stared instead at Trumpkin. He grunted and swung the bow back into his quiver.

"Why didn't he stop?" Susan asked.

"I suspect he was hungry," Trumpkin said snidely as he headed towards the fallen foe.

Peter, having checked that his youngest sister was indeed alright, suddenly turned on Nancy. "Why did you hesitate!?" he exploded.

She cowered on the gravelly beach. It was an automatic, annoyingly subservient pose and she hated herself for it. With a grimace, she forced herself to sit up again.

"It was a bear. It's a lot bigger than me," she pointed out. "But I didn't hesitate, I ran right beside you!"

"I've watched you take down ogres! I would have thought a bear no problem," he said dismissively.

"Don't be too hard on her," Trumpkin said from where he was prodding the bear. "Talking Beasts get a little touchy about killing dumb ones."

_I'm not a Talking Beast, I'm a girl,_ she thought bitterly, although she kept her mouth shut.

"So he was completely wild," Edmund noted.

"He couldn't talk at all," Peter said.

Trumpkin laughed, a short bitter noise. He half-turned back to them with a look of almost pity in his eyes.

"I'm sorry, but Narnia may be a more savage place than you remember," he told them.

* * *

><p>And now it would seem that they were lost.<p>

Well, strictly speaking that wasn't actually true. They knew exactly where they were, a rocky outcrop upon which Peter, Susan, Lucy and Nancy had once stared out at a fast-melting frozen waterfall. However, it was now at the top of a very deep gorge.

"I told you we weren't lost," Peter said tersely to Susan, the most vocal protester of his navigational skills. She reached up to where Nancy was draped around her shoulders and stroked the wildcat twice behind the left ear. Nancy headbutted her hand softly. It was a common enough gesture between them; _Peter's being such an idiot. Yes, I know._

"There is a ford at Beruna. We can swim across there," Trumpkin said.

They were just turning to leave when Lucy shouted, "Aslan!"

"Where?" Peter asked, jumping over to his sister's side.

"Right there!" Lucy said, pointing and then faltering. A few seconds passed.

"I don't see anything. Nancy, you have the best eyes. Do you see anything?" Peter asked.

She scanned the far side of the gorge. "Nothing," she reported.

"I know what I saw! I saw Aslan; He wants us to follow Him!" Lucy insisted.

Trumpkin sighed. "I'm not going to jump off a cliff after someone who doesn't exist," he said. "Beruna's our best bet for getting across."

"What do you think, Ed? Nancy?" Peter asked.

"Last time I didn't believe Lucy, I ended up looking quite the fool," Edmund said slowly. He smiled encouragingly at Lucy.

Nancy on the other hand was unconvinced. "I'm sorry, I didn't see anything. Aslan, or any other lion," she said.

"Fine," Peter said. He gazed back across the gorge. "Sorry Lucy, but, if that was Aslan, I think He would have shown Himself to more of us. Let's go."

* * *

><p>They followed the river downstream for a few leagues until it left the gorge. At this point it became much wider and faster-flowing. There was an ideal place to ford across the water where it did not run so fast just a short distance from Beruna. Unfortunately, Telmarines were swarming everywhere. It appeared that they were building a bridge across the river.<p>

Their group crouched behind a pile of cut timber and watched as men ran everywhere trying to complete their tasks. The Four and Trumpkin ducked further behind the lumber as a group of soldiers rode by in close vicinity.

Nancy, playing dumb, stayed crouched atop the wood while her companions held a whispered discussion about what to do next. If any of the workers or soldiers saw her, they thought nothing suspicious of the small cat and did not bother her. Through narrowed eyes, she closely watched the construction of the bridge. It seemed to be in the early stages but there were an awful lot of workers everywhere.

Her Pa, before going off to France for the war, had been a labourer. She had no idea how to build any sort of building or structure but, from running lunch to down to Pa on the worksite a number of times, she knew that the more people worked on something the faster it got done. This bridge was going to be up in a few days at most.

"Nance, we're leaving," Peter hissed from behind. With a last, curious look at the group of soldiers, she jumped down from the woodpile and followed her friends back into the trees.

With no better plan, they headed back to the point where Lucy had seen Aslan.

Upon arrival, Peter not-too-helpfully asked, "So, where did you think you saw him?"

Lucy whirled around with a glare. "I don't _think_ I saw him; I _did_ see him," she spat and moved closer to the precipice. "It was right over..." she began and then vanished downwards with a shriek.

Everyone screamed and ran forwards until Lucy's peaky but smiling face reappeared. She had only fallen down through some foliage and had landed on a wide ledge just a few feet below. "Here," she said brightly, smiling up at them.

The ledge turned out to be a hidden path that led all the way down the gorge, across, and up the other side.

They made camp that night in a small clearing. Nancy took the first watch. The boys fell asleep almost instantly and Trumpkin was feigning. She could hear his breathing patterns and it was not the gentle rhythms of one at rest. Lucy and Susan were having a quiet conversation. Nancy wasn't listening out of courtesy until Lucy called her name.

"Nancy? Can I ask you something?" she said.

"Mmm," she said, stretching out beside the fire.

"Why did you leave the Professor's?"

She stopped mid-stretch. Then she sat down with a little sigh.

"I got a letter from my sister. She needed me to go back to London," she said flatly.

"So you went? Even with the bombings?" Susan asked. "Why?"

"She was going to have a baby," Nancy said in a very small voice. "She had to stop working and my Ma needed help with the rent. I ran a few errands until I turned fourteen and then I began to work my way through a number of jobs."

The Queens were silent.

"Nancy, you can't be working. You are still a child," Susan said.

"Maybe but the school leaving age is fourteen. It is perfectly legal for me to provide for my family."

"And your sister?" Lucy asked.

"She had a baby girl. We call her Betty but her full name is Elizabeth. Like the Princess, you know?" she said in the same flat little voice. "Dot's always liked the Royal family. She's the same age as you, Susan. Betty's father went off to France with our brother, Jimmy, and three weeks later his mother got a telegram to say he'd been shot. Dot's now an unwed teenage mother and I have to deal with everyone round our way judging us."

"How terrible for you," Lucy said and stretched out her hand to try to stroke her. She stood quickly and walked out of her reach. Betty's arrival wasn't even half of her problems.

"Life goes on. It's nothing I can't handle," she said and leapt up a tree to begin her watch.

* * *

><p><strong>Apologies for my short absence from this story. I had exams and then some personal stuff to deal with. But I'm back now and I hope to write some more of this!<strong>

**While I was in my recent muddle, I did manage to finish and publish a Harry Potter fic I've been sitting on for some time. I'd appreciate it if you went and took a look if you like Harry Potter. Thanks! :)**


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